A Proposal for a New Approach to the Western Balkans-EU Relationship

A Proposal for a New Approach to the Western Balkans-EU Relationship Regional Center for Strategic and Political Initiatives This report has been prepared within the project “Comprehensive Research on the Economic Integration of the Western Balkans into the EU Single Market,” funded by the Open Society Foundation (OSF) for the Western Balkans and implemented by the Regional Center for Strategic an. [...] Removing barriers to trade and investment and the essential enabling domestic reforms in and between the countries of the Western Balkans, and with the EU, are essential to improve prosperity in the region. [...] The conclusion reached from the analysis is that the stringent requirements, as defined in the Copenhagen Criteria and expressed in the SAP signed by each country as the first step towards membership, have proven to be a major obstacle because of the inability of the Western Balkan countries to meet these requirements. [...] Both the SAPs of the WB countries and the DCFTAs of the new East European applicants already provide the basis for progressive integration into the internal market. [...] For the Western Balkans countries, the EFTA/EEA agreement approach has the advantage of maintaining the two-tier hub-and-wheels approach to regional integration – the SAPs and the CEFTA regional block.